Steam-engine indicator.



PATENTED JUNE 7, 1904.

E. VAUGHAN. STEAM ENGINE INDICATOR.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 18. 1903.

EETB-SHEET 1.

N0 MODEL.

PATENTED JUNE 7, 1904;

E. VAUGHAN. STEAM ENGINE INDICATOR.

APPLICATION FILED SEPT. 18. 1903.

2 SHBBTSSHEET 2..

NO MODEL.

lhvenitor:

Patented June '7, 1904.

PATENT OEEicE.

EARL VAUGHAN, OF BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS.

STEAM-ENGINE INDICATOR.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 761,732, dated June '7, 1904.

Application filed September 18, 1903. Serial No. 173,702. (No model.)

T0 on whom, it may concern:

Be it known that I, EARL VAUGHAN, of Boston, in the county of Suffolk and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Steani-EngineIndicators, of which the following, taken in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification.

This invention relates to steam-engine indicators, is an improvement upon the invention shown and described in the Letters Patent No. 618,420, granted to Amos P. Kinney and Earl Vaughan January 31, 1899, has for its object an improved construction whereby the parts may be more rapidly assembled and adjusted and rendered more accessible for repairs, and it consists in certain novel features of construction, arrangement, and combination of parts, which will be readily understood by reference to the description of the accompanying drawings and to the claims hereto appended and in which the invention is clearly pointed out.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a side elevation of the drum-carriage, the drum, and a portion of-the frame of a standard Thompson indicator. Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation of the drum-carriage, spindle, and a portion of the frame. Fig. 3 is an inverted plan of the drum-carriage and spring for operating the pin for locking the barrel to said carriage. Fig. 4 is a section of a portion of the drumcarriage and its locking-spring on line A A on Fig. 3. Fig. 5 is a central vertical section of the drum, its spindle-bearing sleeve, and the auxiliary spring. Fig. 6 is a similar vertical section with the spindle-bearing sleeve and the auxiliary spring removed. Fig. 7 is a transverse section on line B B looking upward. Fig. 8 is an inverted plan of the spindle-bearing sleeve, its attached spring, and coupling-ring. Fig. 9 is a central vertical section on line C O on Fig. 8. Figs. 10 and 11 are respectively an inverted plan and an edge view of the locking-bolt-operating spring. Fig. 12 is an elevation of the drum-locking pin disengaged from its operating-spring, and Fig. 13 is a view of a tool for adjusting the tension of the spiral spring 18.

In the drawings, 1 represents a portion of that the set-screw in the side of said clamping-nut and the hole in the top thereof .are omitted as unnecessary in view of the improved method of securing the spindle-sleeve against rotation, to be hereinafter described. In the patent before cited a drum-locking pin firmly secured to and projecting at right angles from a spring secured to the under side of the drum-carriage was employed; but it has been found that owing to the fact that said pin was rigidly secured to said spring as though it were integral therewith it was liable to bind in its bearing unless it was fitted loosely in said bearing, and if fitted loosely in its bearing the drum was liable to slight irregularities in its movement, which are undesirable; and one object of this invention is to obviate this objection, and to this end the locking-pin 6 is provided at its lower end with a circumferential groove 7 of a width equal to the thickness of the spring 8, which is of substantially the same form as that shown in said prior patent, except that near its free end it has cut through it a slot 9, a portion of which has parallel sides at a distance from each other equal to the diameter of the bottom of said groove 7 on said pin 6 and enlarged atone end toasegment of a circle having a diameter equal to the full diameter of said pin 6, as shown in Fig. 10. The end of the pin 6 is passed through the enlarged end of said slot till the groove 7 is in the same plane as the spring 8, when it is moved into the narrower portion of the slot, where it remains when placed in its bearing, and the spring is secured to the under side of the drum-carriage, as shown in Fig. 3.

The lower end of the drum 10 has formed therein the circular groove 11 and the hole 12 to receive the upper end of the pin 6, as in said before-cited patent, and said drum is otherwise substantially of the same construction as in said patent, except that the partition 13, which extends transversely thereof near the middle of its length, is a flat disk provided on its under side with a plurality of downwardly-projecting segmental ribs 14, each pair of which are separated by a narrow slot-like space 15, and each end of each of said segmental ribs has cut therein a horizontal slot 16 contiguous to the under side of said partition 13, said segmental ribs 14:, spaces 15, and slots 16 forming important features of my present invention, especially with reference to the mounting of the drum-bearing sleeve 17 and its spiral spring 18, as will now be explained.

The drum-bearing sleeve 17 is of the same construction as the sleeve shown and described in said prior patent, except that the stud or pin which projected from the lower end of said sleeve of said patent is dispensed with, and said sleeve has set in its side a pin 19, which projects outward therefrom and engages the annular groove 20, formed in the sleeve 21, connecting said partition 13 with the upper head of said drum, just as in said cited patent, and said pin also projects into the bore of said drum-bearing sleeve 17 and engages the longitudinal slot 22, formed in the upper portion of the spindle 2, whereby said sleeve is prevented from revolution about said spindle. The lower end of said sleeve 17 has secured thereto the inner end of the spiral spring 18, as in said prior patent; but the outer end of said spring 18 instead of being secured to the drum-sleeve 21, which is a fixed portion of the drum, as in said prior patent, is secured to the inner surface of the ring 23, which fits within the inner surfaces of the segmental ribs let and is provided with a pair of outwardly-projecting cars 24, which when said ring is placed in position pass into the spaces 15 between the ends of said segmental ribs, and when said ring is moved slightly about its axis said cars will engage a pair of the horizontal slots 16, and thus prevent any sagging of said ring.

The ring 23 has a cross-section somewhat resembling the letter E, or, in other words, is provided with an internal peripheral groove, bounded by an upper and an under inwardlyprojecting annular flange, the lower one of which has cut in its inner edge two rectangular notches 25 as a means in connection with a suitable toolsuch, for instance, as is shown in Fig. 13-by which said ring may be moved about its axis to disengage the cars 24 from the slots 16, and then said ring may be moved downward till the cars 24 are below the lower edges of the segmental ribs 1 1, when said ring may be again moved about its axis to increase or diminish the tension of the spring until the cars 24 will pass into another pair of the spaces 15 and then be made to engage another pair of the horizontal slots 16, where it remains until a further adjustment or a removal thereof with the sleeve 17 is required.

The tool shown in Fig. 13 is a two-armed spring implement, the width across the ends of the arms thereof when in their normal position being slightly greater than the diameter of said ring 23, and the end of each arm is provided with a hook to engage the inner surface of the lower annular flange of said ring when the ends of said arms are inserted in the notches 25 and allowed to expand, whereby when so applied the ring 23 may be manipulated as desired.

The drum 10 has secured thereon in the usual manner the card-securing springs 20, of well-known construction, and also has fitted thereto the radial knife-edged lever 27 for engaging the :free end of the spring 8 substantially as in the before-cited patent.

By the adoption of the lYTIDIOVCYTiODtS constituting my present invention, as herein forth, a great advantage is obtained in the construction and assembling of the parts, and especially in the ability to regulate the tension of the spiral spring 18.

The construction and operation of this invention will be understood from the foregoing description without further explanation here.

I claim- 1. In a steam-engine indicator, the combination with a drum-carriage, means for imparting a rotary reciprocatory motion to said carriage in unison with the piston movement of the engine, and a detachable card-carrying drum mounted on said carriage; of a locking-pin fitted to a bearing in said carriage and engaging, at its upper end, a socket in said drum, and provided, at its lower end, with a circmnferential groove; aleaf-spring secured at one end to the under side of said carriage and having its other end curved downward, and provided near said curved end with a slot to engage the groove in said pin; and a lever to act'upon said spring to retract said loclcing-pin as and for the purposes described.

2. In a steam-engine indicator, the combination of a frame; a spindle set in a fixed position in said frame and provided with a longitudinal groove in its upper part; a drumcarriage mounted upon and mo 'able about said spindle; a sleeve fitted to the grooved upper portion of said spindle; a pin projecting into the bore of said sleeve and engaging the slot in said spindle; a drum mounted on and revoluble with said carriage and having a central tubular casing fitted to and revoluble about the spindle-sleeve, said casing being provided in its inner surface with an annular groove near its lower end, and a vertical slot ITO extending from the lower end of said casing to said annular groove; and a pin projecting from the outer surface of said spindle-sleeve and engaging said annular groove.

3. In a steam-engine indicator, the combination of a frame; a spindle set in a fixed position in said frame and provlded with a longitudinal groove in its upper part; a drumcarriage mounted upon and movable about the lower portion of said spindle; a sleeve fitted to the upper portion of said spindle; a pin carried by said sleeve and engaging the slot in said spindle; a hollow drum having a transverse partition near the middle of its length; a tubular casing connecting said partition and the upper head of said drum and provided in its inner surface with an annular groove and with a vertical slot extending from the under side of said transverse partition into said annular groove; a pin projecting from the outer surface of said spindle-sleeve and engaging said annular groove; a plurality of segmental ribs of equal radii projecting from the under side of said transverse partition with a space between the ends of each pair, and each segment having formed in each end thereof a horizontal slot; acoupling-ring provided with a pair of radially-projecting ears adapted to pass into any pair of the spaces between said segments and engage said hori- Zontal slots; and a spiral spring secured at one end to said spindle-sleeve, and at its other end to said coupling-ring, said ring being provided on its under side with means for applying a tool for adjusting the tension of said spiral spring.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, on this 16th day of Septemher, A. D. 1903.

EARL VAUGHAN. Witnesses:

N. C. LOMBARD, JAMEs A. WooDBURY. 

